FR MARTIN LEE WRITES:

Dear Friends

As I write this we are in the final stages of producing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, with so much hard work by all the children involved, I do hope that as many of you as possible will be able to be with us on 5th 6TH and 7th November, starting at 7pm - Admission Free.

All our readers will be aware, we have been requesting somebody to consider taking over the editor's job for Pathways. Since Brenda moved away we are so grateful to the team for carrying on with Pathways, and they have done a splendid job. However, we have now come to the end of the road, as nobody has been able to take on this responsibility, so sadly this is the last Pathways for a while. It has been decided to suspend Pathways for six months in the hope that somebody may feel that they can consider taking on this role, but it is a huge time commitment and a considerable amount of hard work. So a big thank you to all who have over the years contributed to Pathways, and let us hope that we will, one day, be able to publish it or something like it in the future. Meanwhile, we will endeavour to produce a small leaflet from the parish office once a month with necessary details on.

The beginning of November does of course bring some important dates: we begin with the feast of All Saints and All Souls, followed very shortly by Remembrance Sunday and the run up to Advent Sunday happens all too quickly. A month then of great poignancy, remembering those ahead of us on our Christian journey. It will seem so hard for many in the military world, for this year we seem to have watched the sight of our young men and women being returned home, killed in action, far too much, it has become all to much of a familiar sight which is so desperately sad.

It is possible for us to feel quite helpless, and of course we are in many ways, there is nothing we can do, expect to pray for peace, to pray for those politicians who make extremely difficult decisions about our armed forces, and putting aside any party politics, this situation is never easy for any politician whatever their political flavour. So please pray for God’s wisdom on all in positions of authority, and of course let us continue to pray for all members of the armed forces that in their daily life they may be safe and find peace.

Jesus came to bring peace to our world and it is our task to preserve that peace and to preach the message of love, joy and peace. Even if the peace we can find is only in our hearts, let us cherish it and appreciate it, in the hope that others too will find the peace of Christ dwelling deep within them.

With my very best wishes

Fr Martin